Presented at Oklahoma Water 2004, Stillwater, OK, November 18 and 19, Environmental Institute Oklahoma State University. Entrepreneurs and Innovation – Flood Control on Mingo Creek and its Legacy Mark Meo 1 Introduction When the city of Tulsa and the Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority (TMUA) settled their lawsuit against six poultry companies (Tyson Foods, Cobb-Vantress, Peterson Farms, Simmons Foods, Cargill Inc. and George’s Inc.) and the city of Decatur, Arkansas, it was heralded as a precedent-setting agreement. The settlement was reached on July 16, 2003 after Tulsa filed suit against the poultry industry defendants in December, 2001 for allowing 170 million pounds of phosphorus- and nitrogen-rich poultry waste to drain into the transboundary Eucha-Spavinaw watershed. According to TMUA chairman Jim Cameron, “It marks the first time phosphorus has been listed as a hazardous material by the federal government; agricultural operations by an industry have been targeted for nonpoint source contamination of a city’s drinking water supply; and poultry integrators have been held liable for nuisances created by their independent, contract growers” (Money 2003). Tulsa mayor Bill LaFortune is also acclamatory: “The facts are that this litigation was historic, this litigation was successful, and this settlement will result in the protection of the watershed” Oklahoma Secretary of Environment Miles Tolbert and Agriculture Secretary Terry Peach agreed that the settlement will have a “significant positive impact” over the long term in the Eucha- Spavinaw watershed. Tolbert said: “There is no question the Tulsa lawsuit settlement has changed the landscape in Northeast Oklahoma. It was the most important step taken so far in holding the poultry companies responsible for the environmental effects of their operations” (Lassek 2004). In the settlement, the companies agreed to bar their growers from applying poultry waste, or litter, to fields in the Eucha-Spavinaw watershed until phosphorus limits were set and approved by the federal court. As a guide, the settlement called for the creation of a phosphorus-risk index to govern the conditions under which litter or fertilizer could be applied to the land. By stipulation, Oklahoma State University and the University of Arkansas independently were to develop phosphorus indices, which in turn, would lead U.S. District Court Judge Claire Eagan to set limits for nutrient application. On February 17 of this year, Judge Eagan determined that a subsequent trial period would be conducted during which both indices would be field-tested to determine which performed better. A special master (John Everett) was selected to monitor the agreement between 1 Professor, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK mmeo@ou.edu